Hitoyoshi City: Learning about Disaster Prevention Measures After Heavy Rain Disasters

Recently, I visited Hitoyoshi City in Kumamoto Prefecture and received information and materials regarding their flood disaster prevention system. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the city hall and all the individuals involved.
In Hitoyoshi City, there was a rainfall of 420 millimeters between July 3rd and 4th, 2020. This heavy rain caused immense damage, resulting in 21 deaths and the destruction of 3,398 homes. Roads, bridges, and railways were also damaged, and the JR Hisatsu Line and the third-sector Kumagawa Railroad have yet to be restored.

Following the flood damage, Hitoyoshi City has implemented the following new disaster prevention measures.I believe the bolded content is worth referencing for our city as well.

1. Changes to the operation of the disaster prevention administrative radio: Adding warning sirens. Coordination with social media such as the official city LINE account.
2. Distribution of disaster prevention radios.
3. Requesting river live cameras from the national and prefectural governments (already installed).
4. Operation of the city's disaster prevention portal site.

5. Lighting Disaster Alert System: Illuminates the surface of the Kuma River. Notifies the level of flood danger through changes in light color.

6. Introduction of Pokecom (evacuation center reception system): By registering evacuation household information in advance via QR code, reception at the evacuation center is completed simply by presenting the QR code.

7. Review of designated evacuation centers.
8. Environmental improvement of designated evacuation centers: Installation of televisions for information gathering and special public telephone lines.
9. Disaster agreements with private companies: Since the heavy rain disaster, 15 disaster agreements have been concluded, including those for "activity support during disasters," "cooperation in facility use," "transportation operations," "coordination support for volunteer activities," "securing transportation for disaster victims," and "comprehensive management of evacuation center operations" (46 agreements have been concluded in the Regional Disaster Prevention Plan).

10. Restoration of fire brigade stations.
11. Implementation of voluntary evacuation drills.
12. Deployment of equipment to voluntary disaster prevention organizations.
13. Support for the creation of district disaster prevention plans.
14. Revision of the multi-hazard timeline.

15. Creation of a web version of the comprehensive disaster prevention map and its multilingualization.
16. Initiatives to pass on disaster experience to future generations: Providing disaster data to the prefecture's digital archive. Creating disaster records and verification journals.

17. Installation of markers for actual inundation depth.
18. Promotion of enrollment in flood insurance, etc.
19. Installation of a conference room in the new city hall building.